The present invention relates generally to fluid pumps and, in particular, to a centrifugal pump having multiple inlets.
Centrifugal pumps are well known in the art and are used for many fluid pumping applications. For example, centrifugal pumps may be used to pump water from one water station to another. They may also be used in construction applications, i.e., to pump water from an excavation cite.
Occasionally, a pump may ingest solid material which can cause clogging of the pump or compromise its operation in other ways. Many times this clogging may necessitate the disassembly of the centrifugal pump in order to remove the material.
Clean-out assemblies allowing access to an impeller chamber have been used in internally self-priming, centrifugal pumps. Examples of pumps having this feature are known as xe2x80x9cT-Seriesxe2x80x9d pumps sold by The Gorman-Rupp Company. A self priming pump having clean-out capability is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,014.
The present invention provides a new and improved centrifugal pump that includes the ability to configure the pump to have one of two inlet configurations. In addition, the pump includes a removable wear plate support/clean-out which provides access to an impeller chamber and which concurrently provides the ability to have alternate inlet configurations.
According to the invention, the centrifugal pump of the present invention includes a pump housing or body which defines an impeller chamber. An impeller, rotatable about an axis, is located within the impeller chamber. The impeller is rotatably driven by a suitable drive source, such as an electric motor or IC combustion engine.
The pump includes a substantially axial port and a substantially radial port which both communicate with the impeller chamber. The pump also includes an outlet port through which pumpage is discharged after passing through the impeller chamber.
In the illustrated embodiment, the pump includes a clean-out port which provides access to the impeller chamber to remove clogs, etc. In the preferred and illustrated embodiment, the removable wear plate/cleanout is an assembly located within the axial port which is removed in order to provide access to the impeller and/or a wear plate which is located axially adjacent the impeller.
According to a feature of the invention, the axial port can serve as an axial inlet to the pump. When the axial port is not used as an inlet port, the port is capped by a cap member or cover.
As indicated above, the pump also includes a radial inlet port through which pumpage is drawn. According to the invention, either the radial port or the axial port can be used as an inlet to the pump. In addition, both ports can be used concurrently as dual inlets to the pump.
According to another feature of the invention, the radial inlet port is arranged such that when it is not being used as an inlet, it can be used to provide access to the impeller chamber in order to remove clogs, debris, etc.
According to a more preferred embodiment, an axis of the radial port and an axis of the outlet port are coincident.
According to a further feature of the invention, the axial port in which the cleanout assembly is mounted is configured to enable the impeller to be removed from the impeller chamber once the cleanout assembly is removed.
Additional features of the invention will become apparent in reading the following detailed description made in connection with the accompanying drawings.